Dear DH, Thank you for sending a photo of a Monarch Butterfly. It is a very nice addition to our site. Mike from Kansas recently wrote to us that he has not found any Monarch Caterpillars this year. A recent article in the LA Times indicates that “California’s Monarch population has fallen an estimated 80% over the last 15 years due to urbanization, drought, weed abatement programs and pesticides said Scott Black, executive director of the nonprofit Xerces Society, a Portland, Ore.-based organization dedicated to the preservation of invertebrates.”